Aria Pro II MAB 20 Magna 5-String

This is a five string bass with a 24 fret narrow neck--hardly any wider than the necks on my 4 string basses. The neck has a deep-set heel (the tongue extends more than 2 inches past the 24th fret); this seems to contribute to its great sustain.

It has 2 passive J pickups with a volume control for each and one tone knob.

There are not a lot of bells and whistles here, but simplicity can be a good thing.

I play rock, some jazz, and play in the worship band at my church. This bass has a good clean sound that ranges from rich and warm (neck pickup when I'm playing on the E, low on the A string, or high on the B string) to very bright (bridge pickup when I'm playing in the upper neck).

I play it through Carvin 2x10 amp (RL600--love that amp!). I use the amp's compression and EQ--usually a slight boost to the low mids with this bass. I occasionally put a little chorus or other effects in the effects loop, but usually play with minimal fx.

This was my first five-string bass, and at first I wasn't used to the growl of that low B. The brightness on the higher notes was nothing like my other basses either--it took a little getting used to, but now I love having that tonal diversity available as I move around the fretboard.

My only real complaint the sound category is that the tone pot starts to buzz slightly if you turn it toward treble. I've seen this problem on a lot of other basses and guitars though, so I generally prefer to set my EQ with the amp.

This bass seems to have an incredibly long sustain, which is nice.

I bought it used and lowered the action myself, so I can't address how the factory set-up might have been.

The craftmanship is better than I expected--comparable to the higher-end Ibanez instruments. The frets are fished nicely, and the nut (which I think is graphite) has been set with obvious care. The body is nicely tapered both at the cut-away and the heel.

The stock tuners and pick-up are working well, but I did replace the output jack because it didn't hold the cable in place as firmly as I like.

It has a nice black finish on both the body and neck.

Everything is very solid now--my only qualm with it was that output jack.

I have never tried contacting the company. They do have a website.

I'm bass and guitar player with almost 20 years experience and I do gig occasionally--but I'm not about to quit my day job. I've played and owned a variety of basses from Ibanez, Peavey, Fender, Washburn, and Steinberger. AriaProII's MAB20/5 is a very good mid-grade bass.

It is my only 5-string (though I have played others in music stores and at jam sessions). While I like the feel of its narrow neck, the tighter string spacing means that it wouldn't be a good bass for someone who does a lot of slap/funk playing. Because of that narrow spacing, I usually take one of my other basses to a gig, but I do like recording and practicing with this one. Since the spacing is narrower than average, this instrument may be a good choice for a muscian whose primary instrument is guitar.